Tonganoxie joined in with nationwide vigils Friday for the five Dallas police officers fatally shot Thursday night during a peaceful Black Lives Matter protest.

More than 40 residents gathered midday Friday in Gallagher Park for prayers and a moment of silence.

The Rev. Ron Swaim of Cornerstone Family Worship led the vigil.

“The way the events are turning, it’s not a good positive direction,” Swaim said. “It’s getting more complicated.

“Because we live in Tonganoxie we think it can’t happen to us. It’s not a matter of if something’s going to happen. It’s when and where.”

Swaim said it was a “difficult time for those in blue” and that it’s “important to stand by them.”

A handful of Tonganoxie police officers also were at the vigil.

Swaim asked those in attendance to “lift up the guys behind us in Tonganoxie,” referring to the officers standing behind Swaim, and make the community better.

He also asked that people work together to break down any racial divides.

“Our land needs healing in the worst way,” Swaim said. “Let it start with us.”

Swaim noted that the gathering was one of folks of varying denominations.

The Rev. Ross Frisbee from Tonganoxie Christian Church and Tonganoxie resident Kevin Cobb also spoke during the ceremony that lasted about 20 minutes.

The speakers asked for prayers for victim’s of the officers’ families and the family of the suspected gunman, 25-year-old Micah Xavier Johnson. The Mesquite, Texas, resident and military veteran was killed by police when officers detonated a bomb delivered by robot after negotiations with him failed, according to national news reports.